Interpol hunts for big Tiger money launderers

By Asif Fuard

The international crackdown on the LTTE has intensified with the Interpol on a hunt for three foreigners believed to be involved in huge money laundering operations for the Tiger guerrillas, an official said.

The official of the Leon-based International Police (Interpol) told The Sunday Times they were looking for two Swiss operators and a Frenchmen, against who there was substantial evidence of money laundering both for the LTTE and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organsiation (TRO).

The detective said the three foreigners had visited Sri Lanka several times and gone to LTTE-controlled areas to coordinate their operations. He said the three suspects were also known to have laundered money for other terror groups and were now believed to be in Switzerland.

The Interpol hunt follows the arrest of 17 people in France for alleged involvement in massive extortion operations and money laundering for the LTTE. The suspects were indicted in a Paris court last Tuesday.

French Interior Ministry spokesman Dominique Pascal told The Sunday Times on the telephone that more suspects were likely to be arrested in this crackdown on terrorists. Among the 17 suspects arrested were LTTE’s French branch leader Nadarajah Mahintharan alias Parathi and Thuraisamy Jayamoorthy alias Jeya.

TRO spokesperson K. Balendran denied that foreign nationals were involved in collecting funds or laundering money for the TRO but he declined to say anything more. A detective of France’s counter-terrorism unit said they had carried out investigations for about one and a half years before rounding up the 17 suspects.

He said the French police were assisted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Britain’s Scotland Yard and Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He said detectives had raided the Tamil Coordinating Committee Office (CCTF), the TRO office in France, a leading Tamil shop and the Paris Amman Kovil among other places.